Social Impact Theory - Latané 1981

Question 1

Target?

Answer 1

Person being impacted upon

Question 2

Source?

Answer 2

The influencer

Question 3

Social forces?

Answer 3

Number of people, Immidiacy, Strength

Question 4

The strength of a source can be determined by

Answer 4

status, authority, or age e.g those of a high status are going to have a stronger influence

Question 5

Immidiacy is determined by

Answer 5

proximity or distance between the source and the target and the presence of buffers that could be barriers to the distance

Question 6

Number refers to

Answer 6

how many sources and targets there are in the social situation.

Question 7

Therefore, maximum obedience occurs when

Answer 7

authority figures are percieved to be legitimate, immidiate to the individual and are greater in number

Question 8

Multiplication vs Divison of impact is

Answer 8

The strength, immidiacy and number of sources can only have a multiplicative effect up to a certain point and if there is a large number of targets to sources, the ability of the influence will be diminished

Question 9

Social impact theory is high in face validity as

Answer 9

it supports what we see in everyday society, it acknowledges strength as a feature of groups which includes their power of pursuasion, as well as how much authoirty they have.

Question 10

It does not take into account individual responses to the factors it identifies. Some people may be

Answer 10

more or less likely to be pursuaded than others. Therefore, it could be considered as an incomplete explanation.

Question 11

The theory is limited to the type of social situation it can explain because if

Answer 11

two equal groups were put together it can’t explain the outcome or predict it, reductionist

Question 12

It is quantifiable in that the

Answer 12

principles can be observed in everyday behaviour which is a strength

Question 13

A study to support the multiplication vs divison effect is

Answer 13

Berkowitz, Bickman and Milgram (1969)

Question 14

Berkowitz, Bickman and Milgram (1969) was a study

Answer 14

that got confederates to congregate on the street and look up a building, the numbers of passers by who stopped to join increased rapidly initially but it slowed and levelled off

Question 15

More descriptive than explanatory as it can predict when people may be influenced but not

Answer 15

why